While we’re still not sure where to settle — yes, despite the whole house investment thing — we’ve already decided on what our home aesthetic is. It’s a mix of industrial with Japanese minimalism, which I think should be called Industrial Zen. Think concrete floors with light and dark wood and many, many plants.
I’ve come to realize that I don’t want a big house. It’s gonna be hard to clean and, based on our current experience, we don’t really need that much space. (We’re renting a five-room house and we have no use for one of the rooms; we just store random stuff we don’t want to display there.) There’s this property in Marikina that caught my eye, though. It’s still a bit too big for my liking, but it’s close to what I envision our future home would look like (wherever it might be).
Like any other millennial, I’ve made a Pinterest board for ideas. Here are some designs I’m inspired by.
The gate
I’ve seen an abundance of gates with wooden elements but not a lot of those whose planks are positioned vertically. That’s what I want! It feels a bit more organic.
The flooring
We’re not sure if we’ll do it the traditional way or source for vinyl instead but we’re definite that our flooring will have the feel of concrete. Yup, no ceramic tiles or marbles for us. Just concrete. (I mean, I know it’s cliche industrial but it’s really what happens to fit our home aesthetic.)
The ceiling
I’m thinking of this just for key areas like the living and dining rooms (perhaps one of the bedrooms). I’ve convinced my husband to have a ceiling with wooden slats instead of the planks we’re used to. The contrast of cold concrete and warm wood is just perfect.
The accent wall
Yes, there will be bricks. And, yes, in red. What’s an industrial-inspired space without them, right? We’re allowing us this cliche for the theme because they just look good. Period. Many of the inspiration photos I’ve seen using them are in the kitchen but it sounds like a nightmare for upkeep.
The indoor garden
I did mention that many, many plants inside the house (and, well, outside too) are part of our home aesthetic. We’re thinking of a plant wall or a space near the stairs created especially for plants.
The door(s)
We haven’t decided yet, but we’ll have a barn door somewhere. It’s gonna be made of vertical wooden slats like the ceiling and the gate. They’re a space-saving option, so I think it’ll be great in an area where a lot of things are going on (maybe in first floor bathroom — if we have a two-storey house. We’re considering a bungalow or a loft, too.).
The “make” area
One thing we realized while living in the house we’re renting is that we would love to have a “make” area in our future home, too. We have this space before the entrance to the balcony that we use as a music area slash hangout pod slash mini-recording studio. It’s a fun place to stay in, and we’d love to always have something like it.
Of course, it’s hard to picture things when there’s nothing concrete to plan yet. But this these are the things that I see us doing, without a doubt, in the future! How about you? What’s your home aesthetic?